Things are not always what they seem
by bbfan77
Summary: Takes place a little after the Soto alien incident episode... Beast Boy has nothing to do again and he is alone with raven in the Tower... What will happen?


One-shot teen titans fan fic story

**Okay… well – this is the second fan fic story I ever finished… a one-shot, mini fic :) **

**Hope you guys will like it…**

**I do not owe the Titans. (Yeah, whatever… I wish I did though )**

**Please read and review! **

**Things are not always what they seem…**

Almost two days have passed since a weird alien named Soto abducted the green, teenage changeling. Two days since the changeling finally realized that the Titans kinda needed him. Kinda… Everything got back to normal …

Three of the Titans were at the mall. Cyborg had to buy some parts for the T-car and among them parts for himself too. Starfire wanted to buy some more ordinary clothes. She liked to wear them lately. She said that it was most enjoyable to combine different outfits… The young, alien girl tried to persuade Raven to come with her, but, like the Gothic girl usually preferred, she stayed at the Tower. Because of that matter, their leader, Robin offered himself to come with Starfire. He still denied his liking of the alien girl. The Boy Wonder was too stubborn to admit he liked Starfire, but it was pretty obvious…

Since Cyborg still didn't allow him to even touch the parts and let alone to touch his precious car and he didn't want to be around Starfire and Robin while they were alone and insecure, Beast Boy, like Raven, stayed at the Tower.

There was nothing to do. Beast Boy was bored and, most of all, he felt lonely again. But soon Cyborg will come back home and beat him at playing Gamestation… Soon Starfire will come and she will laugh at his jokes… Soon Robin will be here and he will spar in the gym with the changeling…

The feeling should be gone then… It should be gone…

But the shape-shifter somehow knew that the feeling will never be gone. It was always there, and the "Alien Soto" incident just confirmed it and showed it to Beast Boy. He always felt so different and so far from his friends no matter how many jokes he told and no matter how much he smiled. "They would never understand…" he thought sometimes.

Sure Cyborg was half-robot, Raven was dark and creepy and Starfire was an alien. But Cyborg accepted himself how he was; Starfire didn't have to accept herself because she was normal for her kind and Raven… Well, maybe she was the only one who could understand…

But she probably didn't care, and since Beast Boy was too afraid – he never talked to her about it.

But none of the other Titans had to go through what he did… None of them had to cry themselves to sleep like he did after his parents died.

He never really liked himself. He could sometimes forget about his appearance, about his past and feel comfortable in his own skin… But only sometimes.

Beast Boy was now in his room, trying to figure out what to do. It was pointless… There was nothing fun to do. He headed to the main room to watch TV. As he expected, there was nothing on the program when he turned the tube on…

"Three hundred channels and still nothing on. Great…"

At that point Raven came into the main room. Beast Boy looked back and could see that she was heating some water for a cup of tea.

"Hey Raven." he greeted, hoping that she'll say some sarcastic comment and that he could joke back. Or he was hoping that she'll at lest talk to him…

"Hi." she said. Raven just meditated and was very calm. She didn't really feel the urge to be sarcastic. The Goth just wanted her cup of tea and she wanted to sit somewhere silent so that she could read…

"So… What's up?" he was trying to start a conversation… For some reason, he felt uncomfortable talking to Raven, but not just because she was creepy.

"Nothing." Raven was trying to avoid a conversation. She still wondered why he didn't make jokes about her drinking tea all the time or about something else…

"Same here…" he continued. "What you reading?"

She sighed. Guess she couldn't avoid it after all… ""Twenty thousand miles under the sea'." she read that book before, when she was younger and for some reason, she liked it. A lot. She liked Jules Vern's style so she wanted to read it again to remember.

"Oh… Cool. That's a good book…"

Raven suddenly raised and eyebrow and said "You… You read that book?"

"Of course." he said and grinned. It was one of his wide, toothy grins which could light up a room. "It's a classic."

When she didn't stop looking at him in that weird way he started to feel hurt. Why wouldn't he read? Was it impossible for his friends to think that he actually reads?

Still, he kept that grin… "I do read you know… Not just comics."

Raven was still amazed. It was to strange. She tried to imagine Beast Boy with a book… To strange… She decided to believe him. It was Beast Boy after all. Just when you think you know a lot about him, something new comes up.

"Mind if I read here for a while?" she said.

"Uh… why would I mind? It's not just my house after all…"

She sat on the sofa with no answer. Beast Boy decided not to interrupt her and continued watching TV.

A few moments latter Raven couldn't concentrate any more. The TV was too loud.

"Could you turn that down?" she said.

"Oh, hehe… Sorry." He said and turned the TV's volume down.

She was now pleased enough to continue, but suddenly she realized that the TV was making absolutely no sound.

She looked up from the pages of her book and found that Beast Boy was still watching the program as if nothing bothered him. As if he could still hear it.

"How can you hear that thing now?"

She was curious now…

He looked at her, still grinning and said "I thought you didn't wanna hear it…"

"I didn't, but not to the point that you can't even watch TV." She said in an apologizing way. She didn't want to ruin it for him now. He was here first. It was a very strange feeling. Suddenly she actually cared (more than usually).

"I didn't say that I can't hear it." He said, while his grin grew wider.

"How?"

"How what?"

Raven was slightly annoyed now "How can you hear it?"

"Oh… that…"

"Well?"

"It's my animal side, you know?" when he saw that she was looking at him with a strange, and slightly confused face, he continued "My senses are enhanced." And then he twitched his ears a bit. "I thought you guys figured it out already…"

"No… we didn't. Well… I didn't."

"Oh…"

They were both speechless now, and Beast Boy turned his head back to the screen, leaving Raven so that she could read in peace. But the Goth could bring herself to read now. She was intrigued.

"How is your sight different then?"

"Hm… I don't really know… Don't really remember it when it was normal…"

"Oh…"

Beast Boy just continued to watch TV since he didn't really know what they could talk about.

Raven didn't know either, but she couldn't read anymore. She found herself staring at the green teenager, while pretending to read. He was kinda handsome. She didn't realize it before, but she admitted it now. He really was handsome. His messy, dark green hair suited him. His dark green, deep eyes were incredible. Raven thought that his green skin was… Well… It was charming. And his pointy ears and the little fangs made him look cute. His body wasn't bad at all, when she thought about it a little more. She never did like too big muscles… Wait! What was she thinking? It's Beast Boy! She couldn't think of him like that. Did she have feelings for him? No. No she didn't. It couldn't be. But maybe after all the years he'd grown closer to her heart. She had always found him funny, even though she didn't admit it. But she couldn't feel, therefore she didn't have feelings for him. Did she?

There was no use. She'll deal with this latter. She just wanted to enjoy the moment now…

Similar thing was going on in Beast Boy's mind. He was glancing at Raven. He didn't realize it before, but she was truly beautiful. She was so unusual, but in a good way. In a very good way… Her hair looked so smooth and silky. And for him, it was a beautiful color. Violet. And she had an amazing body. Not like Terra. Not like her at all. He never really loved her… The reason he liked her was that he could get her to smile. He could get her to do things Raven would never do. It was easier, so he chose Terra over Raven…

Terra was too skinny now that he remembered. Raven was… She was perfect. No! Wait! He can't have feelings for her! Can he? No… Even if he can, she couldn't have feelings for him. He didn't have them… She was the total opposite of him. Maybe the opposites do attract… He was very confused now… Those thoughts were there for a long time. Beast Boy tried to ignore them. He knew that Raven could never feel the same way about him the same way. He was too scared to admit.

After staring at him for a few moments, Raven realized something… He had something on his neck… Some kind of markings… She was pulled out from her thoughts and she said "What's that on your neck?"

Beast Boy twitched a little also pulled out of his thoughts and replied carefully "Huh? What? There's nothing on my neck."

She was onto him… There was something on his neck he didn't want his friends to see so he tried to hide it.

Raven wasn't convinced. Now that she looked at him more carefully she realized that the changeling was wearing his collar a little higher… "I don't believe you. What's that on your neck?" she was persistent to find out what it was.

"What are you talking about? It's nothing." He said, trying to sound innocent, but when he saw the look on Raven's face, he gave up. The changeling lowered the collar of his uniform and revealed dark green bruises and reddish cuts all over his neck. His big grin faded and turned into a worried and sad face.

"Beast Boy! What happened to you?" Raven almost yelled, reaching out her arm to him carefully. Like she would to an injured and scared animal…

He stepped back a little. "It's nothing…"

"No it's not. How did this happen?" she was very worried. Was he in pain? Did it bother him a lot? Could he even breathe normally? The bruises and the cuts definitely looked sever enough to disrupt his breathing.

He looked at her for a few moments and finally said "Uh… well…When the weird alien captured me I… kinda had this collar on… You saw it. I threw it to Soto when I got out of it…and…"

"I understand." she interrupted him. Beast Boy must've tried hard to get out of that collar to sustain such injuries…

"Does it hurt a lot?" she asked with sympathy.

"No, of course not. I'm fine." he answered, but a little to fast. She knew now that he was in pain. It hurt a lot.

She again reached out her arm slowly and carefully touched his neck.

The green shape-shifter instantly winced from the pain.

"Let me fix that for you." The Goth said and applied her healing abilities to the injury. She felt the warmth in her palms. Beast Boy also felt the warmth going through his neck.

In a few seconds – his neck was normal…

"Thanks…" he said in a sad voice.

"Don't mention it."

There was a long, silent moment… Raven was the first to break it.

"How come you didn't tell us? About this? I could have fixed it days ago…"

"I… I didn't wanna bother you guys… It's no big deal…"

"Yes it is Beast Boy. You were in pain."

The changeling sighed.

"It was just hard, you know? I thought I'd never see you again and…" he was saying in a weak, shaking voice.

"But it's alright now. You don't have to worry any more." She tried to comfort him…

"No. It's not."

"But why?"

He decided to admit part of his feelings… After all – he was the one that found out about her father first… Well… He and Cyborg. But why shouldn't he share something now? Yes. That felt right. She may be the only one who could understand. He had to try…

"The day when Soto captured me… I felt really lonely. And I've always felt like that." he paused for a moment. "I've always felt too different. I was already considered a freak when I was very young… I can't even tell you what I've been through… But I know that I shouldn't complain… I know that there are people that got it worse… I think…"

"Oh, Beast Boy. I'm so sorry… Maybe you should try to tell me what happened." she was determine to find out why he was acting like this all of a sudden… It must've had something to do with his past… Was it that horrible?

"Maybe talking about it could help you."

"Okay… Well… I lived in Africa 'till I was about seven. My parents… They died when I was young… A few years after I turned green end everything. After that, two men took me to the USA… They were thieves and they made me steel for them… I was too little and scared. Didn't really know what I was doing… I'd rather not tell you what they did to me…"

"You can tell me." she was afraid that they did horrible and unspeakable things to him since he reacted like that. If they did – she had to know. She wanted to.

"Uh… well… Since I was like seven or eight… I couldn't really control my powers… I was practically starving all the time and… they've beaten me… a lot… still have some scars… But I was saved and put into a foster home for a while… Then this guy, Nicholas Galtry found out that I inherited a lot of money. He adopted me and… well… he tried to kill me. " he barely managed to say and his eyes were filling with tears…

"I'm so sorry Beast Boy." Raven said, her eyes also filling with tears. She had no idea that his past was so horrible.

"Yeah… But it got better after that… I lived with the Doom Patrol then… They adopted me… And then I met you guys. The best part of my life."

He tried to smile… But he couldn't.

"I'm sorry. I had no idea…" Raven started but Beast Boy interrupted her "Hey. It's no big deal… It's all in the past right now. I'm just glad things turned out how they did." and he finally gave her a small smile.

She smiled back and did the most unusual thing… She hugged him. She hugged him to thank him and comfort him. Beast Boy has shared his deepest secrets with her and she was grateful for that.

Beast Boy was kinda surprised at first, but eventually he hugged her back.

They stayed close like that for almost a minute. They both barely stopped their tears…

The two opposites weren't so opposite anymore… They both realized that.

Beast Boy and Raven finally let go of each other. He felt a lot better. She was right. Talking did help…

"Thanks Raven. For everything."

"It's nothing…"

Just as she was saying that Cyborg marched into the main room. "Yo! BB! I got "Mega monkeys ultra! Wanna play?" He was back from the mall…

When Beast Boy didn't answer right away the robotic teenager looked at his two friends for a second and said "Hey, what's going on here? You're kinda quiet B…"

"It's nothing Cy…" Beast Boy looked at Raven, hoping that she won't tell anybody… Not yet. He wasn't ready.

"Yeah… Nothing…." She completely understood the changeling. He wasn't ready to tell everybody. And yet, he needed to tell her… At least now she knew. Beast Boy smiled. He knew that she understood now… He's going to tell his other friends, but not right now… Not in a while… He just wanted to be normal now… To forget about his past and have fun.

"Hey! Let's test the new game Cy! Wanna play Raven?"

"I'm gonna go to my room and meditate. I'll see you later." she said and levitated her way out of the main room.

The Goth knew that she would never think of Beast Boy as the joker of the group. He was much more now… Maybe she'll even laugh at some of his jokes from now on… Maybe.

. . : : The end : : . .


End file.
